DECORATING TOOLS & EQUIPMENT

You don’t have to invest too much to start making your own delicious cupcakes from home. A simple selection of tools and equipment is all you need to turn out beautifully tasting and equally good looking cupcakes.

To start you will need to have an electric hand whisk, hand blender with whisk attachment or a free standing kitchen mixer with a paddle or k-beater attachment. You can buy a electric hand mixer quite cheapily from most supermarkets or stores such as Wilkinsons or Argos. You will also need a muffin/fairy bun pan ideally with 12 holes. If you haven’t one of these then you can use a baking tray but use two paper cases instead of one. A spatula is also useful for getting the mixture incorporated.

Once you have baked the cupcakes a cooling tray is useful to help the cupcakes cool quickly which will stop them drying out too much. To decorate the cupcakes you will need a large piping bag and piping nozzle such as a 1M tip. If you don’t have a bag or want a simpler look to your cupcakes then using a palette knife to smooth and swirl the cupcakes will also work well. Piping bags and tips can be found at good cake decorating shops or good kitchen shops such as Lakeland.

// Cupcake Equipment Questions

I can’t find a 1M tip – is there another one I can use?

The 1M tip is just a large star shape nozzle which gives a lovely pattern but a large opening round tip can also give a nice effect. Different manufacturers call the nozzles by different names so look out for a large opening tip which will give a nice look.

Can I mix the ingredients by hand?

Technically yes you can, but make sure you use a lot of elbow grease and mix the mixture very well. Consider you would use an electric mixer for up to 5 mins so mixing by hand could mean you are mixing for 20 minutes or so. We would always advise using or borrowing a hand mixer.

How much will all the equipment cost?

Depending on your budget and how much you think you will use the equipment there is a wide range of equipment available. Electric hand mixers can cost anything from £5 to £30 and freestanding mixers starting from £100. The spatula and muffin pan will cost less then £10 for both.